A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Instituted 



21 Dec. 1592 



12 Feb. 1603-4 . 



28 May 1621 



1 8 Nov.) , , 



,; -. f 1626 . 



1 6 Dec. I 

 "SeTlj^o. 



2 July 1657 

 10 Feb. 1657-8. 

 14 Feb. 1662-3 

 27 Nov. 1663 . 

 12 Dec. 1682 



29 May 1700. , 

 14 July 1727 , 



Name 



William Sawrey, M.A. 197 . . 



John Paler 198 



James Martin, M.A. 199 . . 



Augustine Wildbore, D.D. 200 . 



James Starkie, M.A. 201 . . . 



Isaac Ambrose, M.A. 20 * 

 George Thomason 203 . 



William Cole, B.A. 204 . . . 



Thomas Stanhope, M.A. 205 . 



Seth Bushell, D.D. 206 . . . 



Thomas Birch 207 . . . . 



Samuel Peploe, M.A. 208 . . 



Samuel Peploe, D.D. 209 . . 



Patron 



( Henry Bold . . . 



iThe Queen. . . . 



Rt. Parkinson . 



Sir Richard Hoghton . 

 (Sir R. Hoghton 



(The King . . . , 



( Sir R. Hoghton . 



(The King . . . . 



Cause of Vacancy 



| d. T. Wall 



res. W. Sawrey 

 d. J. Paler 



res. A. Wildbore 



Sir R. Hoghton . 



Sir C. Hoghton . 

 The King . . . 



cess. W. Cole 

 res. T. Stanhope 

 res. S. Bushell 

 d. T. Birch 

 prom. Bp. Peploe 



In 1590 it was reported that the vicar, 

 who was ' no preacher," had ' by corrup- 

 tion ' only 20 marks a year out of the 

 vicarage revenues ; S. P. Dom. Eliz. xxxi, 



m Act Bk. at Chester, fol. zi. He 

 appears to have had two presentations, 

 one from the queen and another from 

 Henry Bold of North Meols ; Smith, 

 op. cit. 46. He compounded for first- 

 fruits 5 Feb. 1592-3. He was also rector 

 of Windermere 1594-1610. 



198 Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 37 5 

 'preacher of the Word of God.' Parkin- 

 son presented by virtue of a grant from 

 Richard Hoghton. John Paler was buried 

 at Preston 16 Apr. 1621, the entry in the 

 register describing him as 'a notable 

 labourer in the Lord's vineyard.' An 

 inventory of his goods (Smith, op. cit. 47) 

 shows that he had a considerable library, 

 his books being worth ,14 101. 



"> Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 72. He 

 was a king's preacher. Martin paid first- 

 fruits 29 May 1621. He graduated it 

 Oxford (M.A. 1611) and Cartridge ; 

 Foster, Alumni, He was deprived for 

 simony in 1623. Some ten yea later 

 he made bitter complaint of his treatment, 

 alleging that his wife and son had starved 

 to death in the street ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 

 1633-4, PP- 7> IJ > 39- His character- 

 sketch of his enemies, who were Puritans, 

 is printed by Fishwick, op. cit. 1802. 

 Martin seems to have been regarded as of 

 unsound mind. 



The institutions from this time have 

 been compared with those recorded at the 

 P.R.O. as printed in Lanes, and Ches. 

 Antiq. Notes. 



so The history of the vicarage from 

 1623 to 1626 is obscure, the proceedings 

 concerning Martin causing difficulty. The 

 records of the Chester registry show that 

 Alexander Bradley, B-.A., was presented 

 by the king, 'by lapse," on 21 June 1623, 

 and John Inskip on 6 July following. 

 The latter sought institution, but does not 

 appear to have ibtained it ; Act Bk. at 

 Chester, fol. 73^ 76*, and at end of 

 volume. Augustine Wildbore was pre- 

 sented by Sir Richard Hoghton on 

 3 Mar. 1625-6, they vacancy being due to 

 the ' deprivation of '^James Martin, last 

 vicar ' ; but on i Deo. following he was 

 presented by the king\ ' patron for this 

 turn by reason of the ^.outlawry of the 

 patron or by lapse.' The Mirst-fruits were 

 paid 20 Feb. 1626-7. SoVne entries re- 

 lating to John Inskip, with'.an abstract of 

 his will (1632), are printed by T. C. 

 Smith, op. cit. 51. 



Wildbore was educated at Sidney-Sussex 



Coll., Camb. (M.A. 1614, D.D. 1633). 

 He was appointed a king's preacher j 

 was vicar of Garstang in 1621, of 

 Preston in 1626, and of Lancaster 

 1630, vacating Preston. He was a strong 

 Royalist and was expelled from his bene- 

 fices by Parliament in 1643. He died in 

 1654. See the full account by H. Fish- 

 wick in Garstang (Chct. Soc.), 149-53. 



501 Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 91 A, n6A. 

 First-fruits paid 25 Nov. 1630. The 

 king's nomination was said to be due to 

 the outlawry of the patron, lapse, or 

 simony. James Starkie was in 1636 ad- 

 monished by the High Commission Court, 

 probably for some nonconformity ; Cal. 

 S. P. Dom. 1635-6, p. 485. In 1639 he 

 was promoted to the rectory of North 

 Meolslq.v.). 



202 This noteworthy vicar of Preston 

 was the son of Richard Ambrose, vicar 

 of Ormskirk, where he was baptized 

 in 1604. He was educated at Brasenose 

 Coll., Oxf. ; B.A. 1624, M.A. Camb. 

 1632 ; Foster, Alumni. Incumbent of 

 Castleton, Derb., 1627 ; Clapham, 1629 ; 

 king's preacher in Lancashire, 1631; was a 

 zealous Presbyterian and member of the 

 classis 1646, signing the ' Harmonious 

 Consent ' in 1648 ; became vicar of Gar- 

 stang in 1654 and was ejected for non- 

 conformity in 1662. He died in Jan. 

 16634. He published various religious 

 works, including Loo/ting unto Jesus, 1658. 

 See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Wood, Athenae ; 

 Garstang (Chet. Soc.), 154-176. Am- 

 brose was still vicar of Preston till 1657, 

 when he released to Sir Richard Hoghton 

 all right in the vicarage ; De Hoghton D. 

 During part of the time (1655 on) 

 William Brownsword was in charge of the 

 parish but was not styled vicar ; he was 

 afterwards of ICendal. See articles by 

 Rev. B. Nightingale in Preston Guardian, 

 9-30 Apr. 1910. 



90i Plund. Mins. Acctt. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 189. One of this name 

 was educated at Oxford ; B.A. 1659 ; and 

 afterwards held various benefices ; Canon 

 of Lincoln 1683-1712 ; Foster, Alumni. 



304 Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 216, 222. 

 Educated at Corpus Christ! Coll., Camb. ; 

 B.A. 1640; Fishwick, Preston, 185. In 

 1662 he was willing to conform to some 

 extent, but was ejected from Preston or 

 left it voluntarily. Next year, however, 

 he accepted the vicarage of Dedham ; 

 Smith, op. cit. 59. He had previously 

 held Kirkby Lonsdale and Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne. 



205 Stanhope was educated at St. John's 

 Coll., Camb. ; Admissions (ed. Mayor), 

 i, in ; M.A. 1660. He is said to have 



86 



acted afterwards as chaplain at Hoghton 

 Tower ; Smith, op. cit. 60. His son 

 George became Dean of Canterbury 

 1704 to 1728. 



806 Educated at Oxford ; M.A. 1654, 

 D.D. 1672 ; Foster, Alumni. Some 

 notice of this vicar has been given under 

 Euxton, of which he was curate in 1650. 

 Conforming at the Restoration he was 

 very tolerant of Dissenters, and became 

 popular at Preston and Lancaster, where 

 he was vicar from 1682 till his death in 

 1684. His epitaph describes him as 

 devoted to the English Reformed Church, 

 and faithful to the two Charleses in very 

 difficult times ; Smith, op. cit. 61-3, 

 where his will is given ; Wood, Athenae ; 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



im Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 158. 

 Neither vicar nor curate is recorded in 

 the visitation list of 1691, but James 

 Bland, curate, was ' conformable ' in 

 1689; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv, 230. Birch's will is printed in Smith, 

 op. cit. 68. 



He was not liked by some of the more 

 influential of his parishioners, who com- 

 plained that he did not reside and that 

 he disparaged the Prayer Book. Bishop 

 Stratford made inquiry and wrote to the 

 mayor, showing that some of the charges 

 were untrue and other matters would be 

 reformed. In particular the vicar was 

 willing to restore the daily prayers in the 

 church ; Loc. Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 



6,9- 



S08 The Hoghton family were Noncon- 

 formists, and from a letter among the 

 De Hoghton D. it appears that Sir 

 Charles Hoghton gave the nomination of 

 Birch's successor to the mayor of Preston 

 and others. It is not clear, however, 

 that they selected Peploe, who was a 

 zealous Whig, afterwards warden of Man- 

 chester 1718, and Bishop of Cheater 1726, 

 when he resigned Preston. Peploe is 

 said to have owed these promotions to 

 his courage in reading the prayers for 

 King George at the time when the 

 Jacobite army was actually in possession 

 of Preston. He was also very energetic 

 in prosecuting Roman Catholics. See 

 further in the account of Manchester 

 Church, He died in 1752. 



John Stanley was presented 13 Apr. 

 1726 by the king, but there does not 

 seem to be any record that he was insti- 

 tuted \ he at once accepted a rectory at 

 Liverpool. 



209 Son of Bishop Peploe, whom he 

 succeeded also as warden of Manchester 

 in 1738 ; see the account of the church 

 there. He resigned Preston in 1743 on 



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